From yesterday’s Times of London:
Just about the whole of France is backing Mr Obama. He is, in the words of Jack Lang, the former Socialist Culture Minister, “the America we love … the youth and racial mix of an America under transformation and in movement.”
Is there anything more suspicious than a French statesman describing the America he loves?
Going down Jack Lang’s list of America’s greatest hits raises a funny question. If the French are so excited about youth, racial diversity, and transformation, why are they demographically aging, defined by tribal identity, and violently resistant to reform? Could it be that the French are really infatuated with Obama because he tells Americans:
We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.
In the case of the World vs. America, the world never had it so good. Europe’s charges against the U.S. were always mythical generalizations and never really had any legs. But Obama is all about anti-American myths: Couldn’t his characterization of small town Americans — with their guns and bibles and xenophobia — just as easily have come from some secular French pacifist? He validates European resentment.
And when it comes to the facts of the matter, Europe and Obama share a common disinterest. Sure, Obama represents the America France loves. But the America France has always needed is something different. It has guns and tanks and the will to do something about neighborhood bullies–whatever the neighborhood. America has done Europe’s dirty work since World War II, and Europe may call us all kinds of names but they’ve never lifted a finger to alter the situation. People like to laugh at John McCain’s proposal of a league of democracies, but I wonder what France would think of America’s de-fanged military and friend-to-everyone policy if they’re ever faced with a real threat during President Obama’s term.
In his memoir, Dreams From My Father, Obama writes that his mother taught him “to disdain the blend of ignorance and arrogance that too often characterized Americans abroad.” She taught him to be European. But European anti-Americanism is supposed to be a quirky indulgence. Every few years, some prime minister makes a statement about how America needs to become more like Europe. And every few years, something flares up on the Continent and America swoops in to do what Europe can’t. And so the game continues. However, both Europe and America are in for a nasty surprise if we end up with a president who takes Europe’s case against America seriously.
